DECEMBER 15, 2005

Andretti to race for Andretti?

The word in America is that Andretti Green Racing is about to announce that Marco Andretti will be hired by his father Michael to replace Dan Wheldon in the Andretti Green Racing line-up in the Indy Racing League. The 18-year-old Marco is not hugely experienced on ovals but has done well in both Star Mazda and the Infiniti Pro Series, particularly in road races. There has been some speculation that the young Andretti might one day follow his father and grandfather into F1 (his grandfather Mario was F1 World Champion in 1978) but it seems that this will have to wait for a few years as Marco learns how to race on the ovals and tries to win the Indianapolis 500, a fixation with the family which has had shocking luck at the speedway since Mario's win there back in 1969.

Marco is expected to join Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti and Bryan Herta in the team and there is talk that Michael might even run a fifth car (for himself) at the 500.